Honda celebrates 20 years of Activa dominance in India with anniversary edition

When a single product dominates a vehicle segment or the market like no other, and consistently for a period of 20 years, it can easily be termed as the big game-changer. The Honda Activa is one such product. Launched in 2001, it revolutionised the scooter market with its gearless avatar and has until now sold over 20,000,000 units in India.

To mark the milestone, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India has launched the special 20th anniversary edition of Activa 6G priced at Rs 66,816 for the standard model and Rs 68,316 for the Deluxe variant (ex-showroom, Gurgaon, Haryana). 

A gearless mover and shaker
The Honda Activa is to the scooter market what Maruti is to the passenger vehicle market: a mover and shaker. The difference is that while Maruti Suzuki India does it with multiple models, HMSI achieves the same with a single product family: the Activa.

The Activa was launched in 2001, as the first model in Honda’s portfolio. In its first year (FY2001-02), HMSI sold around 55,000 units of the scooter, which rose to 21 lakh units in FY2014-15. On August 18, 2015, the Activa became the first made-in-India scooter to ride past the 1-crore / 10 million sales mark, taking 15 years to ride past the landmark. The second round of 10 million sales has come in just 5 years, indicating the dominance of the Activa in the market and its role in enhancing scooterisation across the country, particularly in urban India.  

All in all, the Activa has sold over 2 crore or 20 million units over 20 years. Do the math and it works out to 2,740 Activas sold every single day for 7,300 days in India, including weekends!

At present, for the April-October 2020 period, HMSI commands an overwhelming 52% of the scooter market which has seven players. The rest in terms of scooter market share are TVS Motor Co (20.30%), Hero MotoCorp (10.58%), Suzuki Motorcycle India (10%), India Yamaha Motor (6.11%) and Piaggio Vehicles (1.1%). Mahindra Two Wheelers has zero market share.  

Talking about the Activa's 20-year innings, Atsushi Ogata, MD, president and CEO, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India said, “The legend was born 20 years ago, when Honda realised The Power of Dreams of India with its debut model – Activa. Since then, every new generation of Honda Activa has introduced Indian riders to advance global technologies ahead of time – be it Combi-Brake System in 2009, Honda Eco Technology (HET) in 2013 or the latest enhanced Smart Power (eSP) technology and 26 new patent applications in 2020 Activa 6G.”

Launching the 20th anniversary edition of the Activa 6G, Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Director – Sales & Marketing, HMSI, said: “Delighting lakhs of new customers every month, the Activa is the torch bearer of India’s two-wheeler industry. We are proud to be a part of everyday life of incredible India. Today, there is hardly any place in India where you can’t spot an Activa. As a first choice of every Indian family, this specially curated 20th anniversary edition is to celebrate Activa’s inseparable bond with our customers.”

Key highlights of the 20th anniversary edition Activa include two new colours – Matte Mature BrownNew and Pearl Nightstar Black – along with matching rear grab-rails, an embossed 20th year anniversary logo, the golden Activa logo, black steel wheels, brown inner cover and seats, and a black crankcase cover.